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Oversupply of milk and very fussy baby help

So it appears that I have an oversupply of milk and a fore milk an hindmilk imbalance. I am so frustrated because my 2 week and a few day old baby girl is always gulping and choking when I breast feed her. Ive had multiple engorgements were I was running a low grade fever chills all over it was awful. She also wants to feed like every 45 mins! I feel like Im breast feeding all day. She is also very very fussy. What can I do to fix this situation because Im at the point of wanting to quit i hate seeing her in discomfort

I am breastfeeding during the day and I do only 2 bottles of formula at night and I pump for those two bottles that I dont breast feed in order to give my nipples a break from breast feeding so many times a day, there extremely sore!

Re: Oversupply of milk and very fussy baby help

Don't quit, mama! 2 weeks of age is a very frustrating period in a baby's life, especially if you're dealing with some oversupply issues. But this is all temporary! Nursing gets so much better if you just stick with it.

Nursing every 45 minutes is NORMAL for such a very young baby. Remember, 2 weeks ago she was inside you, constantly being nourished and held. She never knew hunger, discomfort, cold, the sensation of a wet diaper, the sensation of needing to poop- nursing is your baby's way of adjusting to this big, cold, irregular world in which she finds herself.

Nursing every 45 minutes is also a great way for a baby to cope with oversupply and fast letdowns. She has a tiny tummy and isn't going to be able to handle more than a few oz of milk at a time. For a 2 week old baby, an average feeding is perhaps just 1-3 oz. Taking just a couple of oz is baby's way of not getting overfull, and not letting your breasts fill up so much that the letdowns are too fast for her to handle.

The best way to start dealing with fast letdowns and the discomfort they cause is to adopt reclined nursing positions. Reclining enlists gravity to slow down the flow of milk, making nursing more comfortable for the baby. So you rock reclined nursing for a while, maybe 3 weeks? If that point passes and you're still suffering from a lot of engorgement and fast letdowns, then it might be time to start block feeding (using one breast per feeding, sometimes for several feedings in a row). But you want to give your body a chance to adjust supply on its own before you get into block feeding. Again, oversupply is usually a very temporary problem!

Getting a fever and chills along with engorgement sounds like mastitis. If that happens again, please see your doctor! Mastitis can make you feel really, really awful and sometimes antibiotics are required to treat it. The first line of defense against mastitis is frequent feedings, and responding to your baby is probably why you didn't get really sick.

If you're going to do bottles at night, and you're pumping, why not put breastmilk in the bottles instead of formula? It's so much healthier for baby!

Finally, can you tell us more about the soreness you are experiencing? Is it more of a pinching pain, or more of an itching or burning? Are you seeing any changes in the skin of your nipples/areolas/breasts- perhaps nipples looking more pink, red, or shiny than normal? Are you seeing dry, flaking, or cracking skin?

Re: Oversupply of milk and very fussy baby help

Mommal covered it all as usual so I just wanted to chime in with some more encouragment. Hang in there. It WILL get better. Every baby stage has its positives and negatives but the newborn stage is particularly rough. I remember having the same thoughts about quitting early on but am so thankful to have stuck with it. Its been the most amazing mothering tool. Do you have any lanolin or other nipple cream to help with the soreness? A tip I was given for my OS that was helpful was to ice my breasts for 10-15 minutes before feeding baby. It worked to ice one side while nursing on the other or if I timed it right I did both right before he woke from his naps. It felt good on my sore chest too! Here's a link explaining fore milk/hind milk http://www.llli.org/faq/foremilk.html

Re: Oversupply of milk and very fussy baby help

The nipple soreness is like a burning sensation when she latches on and my nipples are very cracked.
She keeps spitting up my breast milk and now her poop went from mainly mustard color to greenish?! Is this normal im kind of freaking out. When will this all go to normal if I continue to breast feed?

Re: Oversupply of milk and very fussy baby help

Green poops aren't harmful to baby in and of themselves. They can be a variation of normal, but I think they are common when oversupply is present.

As for your nipples, the burning and cracks makes me think thrush. Does your baby have any white patches in her mouth (please note though that she doesn't HAVE to have them in order for you to be infected with yeast). Did you have antibiotics at all during your labour? It might be worth checking out Dr. Newman's thrush page to see if any of it jives for you http://www.breastfeedinginc.ca/conte...agename=doc-CP
Does it hurt when you pump too? If you do have thrush, you'll want to make sure that you sterilize all your pump parts and bottles to kill the yeast, otherwise you'll continue to pass it back. I'm also curious as to why you're giving formula if you're pumping milk?

Hang in there mama, it's so hard in the beginning, dealing with a newborn and trying to figure all this breastfeeding stuff out. But it is so, so worth it to stick with it. Right now it's a pretty thankless job - the baby just wants wants wants it. But just wait till she starts smiling at you with the nipple in her mouth, with a bit of milk dribbling down her chin...keep thinking about getting to those moments when you feel like giving up!

Re: Oversupply of milk and very fussy baby help

A yeast infection at or around the time your baby was born increases the likelihood that you have thrush. It's to going to cause thrush, but yeast overgrowth in one place is often associated with yeast overgrowth in other places. And, as the PP said, burning and cracks definitely suggests thrush.

Spit-up in an otherwise healthy, happy baby is a laundry problem, not a health problem. Same with green poops. Oversupply can cause them, and so can formula. A breastfed baby's poops may vary in color from mustard yellow to fluorescent or spinach green. Formula poops tend to be a greenish-yellowish-gray color.

Re: Oversupply of milk and very fussy baby help

I had oversupply for quite awhile, and the choking/gagging was the norm until my supply finally adjusted down.

This was my first time nursing as well (although its my second baby), like you I always worry about what is "normal". It is completely normal for your newborn to want to nurse all the time or most of the time. We spent a lot of time lying down and nursing that way, on the couch and in bed. If you can, maybe lying down and either sleeping or watching TV could help you make it through the constant feeding. It helped me so much.

Also, when I had my first child, I was absolutely shocked at how often she wanted to feed and I thought something was wrong. I had no idea what breastfeeding even looked like! Because I was so mentally unprepared and had severe PPD I gave up after two weeks, right where you are now. I would do anything to take it back, but I can't. So whatever you decide to do, just know that what you are describing sounds both common and normal, from someone who is also new at this and is exclusively nursing for almost 6 months now. Please post on here as many times as you need to for support! There are so many ladies who want to help.

Re: Oversupply of milk and very fussy baby help

also, if you haven't met with a lactation consultant, preferably an IBCLC I would highly recommend that before you give up. Many of them you can find online and will usually come right your house. You might even be able to send in a claim to your health insurance. Mine spent like 2 hours watching baby and I and helping me figure it all out.

Re: Oversupply of milk and very fussy baby help

I will definetly look into have a lactation consultant come to the house. I really really dont want to give up Im just exhausted and find myself closed up in my room the whole day breast feeding. She also barely sleeps because shes wakes up so frequently crying and screaming I almost thought it could be colic but when I give her formula she is not like that at all.